Ember sitting, Pyro laying. 3 months old

Pyro (Australian Shepherd), my sweet but crazy boy  came to live with us in October 2006. I fell in love with him the day I met him. He was 4 weeks old and Deresa and I were looking for a second dog. We visited him and his siblings each week until he was 8 weeks old. We knew there was no guarantee the breeder was going to give him to us but we were hoping.

But sadly the breeder decided she was going to raise him and we ended taking home one of his sister.  I was happy and sad at the same time. Ember was also a great pup but Pryo and I were sole mates. Read more about Ember. We completed to paperwork and paid the fee and were ready to take Ember home. I said my goodbyes to Pyro, but I told the breeder if she ever changed her mind about keeping Pyro to please give us first choice.

Well 2 weeks later, Deresa comes outside to were I was working in the yard and asked if I was still interested in Pyro. I was a little shocked but Deresa said she just received a call and the breeder had second thoughts. She still wanted him but had decided to offer us the chance of raising him as our own, but also allow her to show him and possibly breed him. For those who do not know this is common and is called co-owning. He was legally ours and could not be taken from us, but the breeder had the right to show him in confirmation and breed him.

We did decide to bring him into our lives, but we now had 2 – 10 week old puppies. Although I have lived with dogs or other animals all my life these 2 took everything I had. To be honest Pyro overwhelmed me, in fact he was teaching me and I didn’t even know it. I brought in a well respected Aussie breeder/trainer and during our first visit she basically watched Pyro and me together. At the end she pointed out how he taught me to interact with him when he wanted attention.

That was the start of a huge change for me. He was still under a year old and no matter what I did on my own Pyro was getting worse. Originally I was hoping he would be an agility dog and he could be good, not afraid of any of the obstacles. The problem came from the fact agility was over stimulating for him, he would be going fast he would barrel through jumps, not over them, jump on top of tunnels instead of through them and on occasion nip me in the butt or hand.

He started having some dog to dog issues, he could be great with puppies, older dogs, small dogs and big dogs and would play hard, but if he didn’t like a dog we would have to keep them apart. He never hurt another dog but it was still very inappropriate behavior. He was hyper vigilant with hyper anxiety levels. I wanted to help him to live in our human world and in this effort he traveled, with Pyro throughout the North East working with some of the best trainers in the U.S.

Some of this training included your basic dog dog training techniques but also included:

  • Dog working camps
  • Clicker training
  • Dog Comminicators
  • Dog Reiki sessions
  • Holistic Methods (Food modifications)
  • And more

To help burn off some of that energy we started doing dog tricks, hiking in the woods, but one of loved activities was Scootering. He loved the sport so much I had to hide his harness and scooter until we arrived on the trail otherwise he would be bouncing off the roof of the truck. On more than one occasion I would hook up Pyro, go to lock the truck and watch him and the scooter heading down the trail with out me. We even tried skijoring a couple of time. Pyro reaching for 12, now has some back leg issues and heavy sports are now done.

Although Pyro is not cured he is now living comfortably in our human society and on Dog Hill. We don’t travel much off the property anymore, but when possible he get’s a nice care ride. For the most part he is a farm dog enjoying our time together.